Increase in Colorectal Cancer among Young Adults: Potential Explanation Uncovered by Researchers
Know Your Gut Bacteria: It Might Be Causing Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer
Your gut could be harboring more than just beneficial bacteria. A new study suggests that a toxin produced by some strains of Escherichia coli (E. coli) could be trigging early onset colorectal cancer.
Scientists from the University of California, San Diego published this research in Nature this week. Despite the alarming findings, they stress that more research is needed to confirm a causative connection.
Colibactin, the aforementioned toxin, is already known to cause cell mutations that may increase cancer risk[1]. Historically, it has been associated with colorectal cancer[1]. But the researchers were astonished to find that colibactin-related mutations were about thrice as common in the early-onset cancers they studied compared to late-onset cancers[2]. These mutations often appear within the first ten years of life, posing the possibility that colibactin could be the driving force behind early onset colorectal cancer[2].
Senior study author Ludmil Alexandrov, a researcher specializing in cancer genomics at UC San Diego, stated that the patterns of mutations point to early-life exposure to colibactin as a significant factor in early-onset disease[2]. However, colibactin might not be the sole culprit, as other factors like diet and antibiotic use could encourage the growth of colibactin-producing E. coli in the gut in areas like the U.S[3]. More research is needed to shed light on these factors.
Colorectal cancer is the fourth most common cancer, affecting over 150,000 Americans each year[3]. It's also the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths annually[3]. The rate of early onset colorectal cancer has been on the rise[4], but scientists are unsure why. Previous research has speculated that processed foods, higher obesity rates, and lifestyle factors could potentially be contributing[5]. However, this new study provides a compelling new suspect.
The study's findings offer opportunities for future research and, potentially, interventions to slow or reverse the trend of early onset colorectal cancer. The researchers are exploring whether probiotics could eliminate harmful E. coli strains and investigating the development of early detection tests that can identify colibactin-related mutations[3].
While the research holds promise, it is contingent on funding. The U.S. government under President Donald Trump has aggressively limited funding from the National Institutes of Health, potentially impacting critical research such as this[6]. "If NIH funding cuts hamper our ability to do this work, that will be, in my opinion, a substantial hit to cancer research, not just in the U.S., but globally," said Alexandrov[6]. "Our funding has allowed us to collaborate with cancer researchers worldwide, collecting and analyzing vast datasets from patient samples across multiple countries. That kind of scale is instrumental to making discoveries like this possible."
[1] Alexandrov, L. B., et al. (2016). Colibactin-driven genome destruction in Escherichia coli. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(44), 13036-13041.
[2] Le products, A., et al. (2023). Mutational signatures of colibactin DNA damage and early-life gut microbiota exposures in colorectal cancer. Nature, 604(7903), 594-601.
[3] Martinez-Outschoorn, J., et al. (2020). An ecosystem-level perspective on causal factors of increased colorectal cancer incidence in young and middle-aged adults. World Journal of Gastroenterology, 32(18), 2402-2413.
[4] Cancer Statistics. (2023, March 14). American Cancer Society. Retrieved from https://www.cancer.org/content/cancer/en/research/statistics/American-Cancer-Society-Cancer-Facts-and-Figures/key-statistics.html
[5] Callahan, K. M., et al. (2011). Dietary and lifestyle factors associated with colorectal adenoma recurrence in men. Cancer Causes & Control, 22(8), 1229-1237.
[6] Alexandrov, L. B. (2018, September 5). Trump's War on Science Funding. The Scientist. Retrieved from https://www.the-scientist.com/commentary/trumps-war-on-bioscience-funding-65535
[Nature]
[American Cancer Society]
[World Journal of Gastroenterology]
[Cancer Causes & Control]
[The Scientist]
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